World Premiere

"My Lai, an operatic monodrama for voice, traditional Vietnamese instruments, and string quartet, is composed by San Francisco Bay Area composer and Stanford University Professor of Music Jonathan Berger. An artistic portrayal of and response to the infamous 1968 civilian massacre by U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, My Lai approaches the story from U.S. Army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson’s perspective. In lieu of a linear narrative, the story emerges in fragments as the aging and infirm Thompson reflects on the war and on decades of being maligned as unpatriotic and traitorous for attempting to stop the slaughter."